For those of you who’ve never been, CPAC is quite an experience. It’s amazing who you see just walking the halls. When we walked in Friday afternoon the first person I recognized was Carl Cameron from Fox News. It seems we didn’t go anywhere without walking past a politician, a candidate or a media personality. I think Stacy McCain interviewed all of them.
The main ball room is where the big speeches took place, but there was action everywhere. There were also students everywhere, most of whom are big Ron Paul supporters. We couldn’t get a seat for Paul’s speech, but we could hear the crowd cheering. Whether you agree with Ron Paul or not, it’s nice to see him getting through to the younger crowd. How encouraging it is to see so many young Americans taking an active interest in their government and the principles of the Founders.
What I didn’t see or hear at CPAC was racism, intolerance or pessimism. In fact, the atmosphere was lively and optimistic. Even Rachel Maddow received a warm welcome. But of course she was able to find a few fringe elements.
Glenn Beck’s speech was a big hit, but not with everyone. Bill Bennett thinks Beck was unfair to republicans, and takes Beck to task for not seeing the differences between Republicans and Democrats. Erick Erickson’s review was a bit more mixed, and he cautions that the last thing we want to do is help Democrats get elected.
There were some great Republican candidates present, including Les Phillip, Rick Barber, Doug Hoffman, Patrick Murray, Lt. Col. Alan West and Patricia Sullivan. I had the pleasure of chatting with Patricia Sullivan and it was like talking to a neighbor or an old friend. What a class act.
I also met some great bloggers. I can’t thank Stacy McCain enough for the kindness he showed to a small town blogger from Upstate New York. That guy has more energy than the Energizer bunny. He was everywhere. So was Da TechGuy who did one interview after another, and greeted me as if we had known each other for a lifetime. It was a pleasure talking to Smitty who seems like the perfect gentleman.
I met too many people to list. I enjoyed talking to Barbara Espinosa, Evan Sayet, and Jimmie Bise. I didn’t get the chance to speak to Ed Morrissey, he was busy after winning the Blogger of the Year Award. That’s not all I missed. Saturday night we didn’t make it to Reaganpalooza, but we did get the chance to spend a little time talking to some fine folks from St. Louis. Dana Loesch and Dr. Gina Loudon are two amazing women who home school their kids while pursuing careers, and they happen to be a lot of fun.
All in all it was a positive experience and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. But I better start saving now – those $3 Diet Cokes, $7 beers and $15 sandwiches add up. I have a stack of receipts on my desk to prove it, not to mention the travel and lodging costs.
Finally, I owe a great debt of gratitude to Erick Erickson at Red State for sponsoring the Bloggers Lounge and allowing me to be a part of it. The new media did a fine job covering the events and I was honored to be included.
Update: One event I really wanted to attend, but arrived too late, was the Freedom Defense Initiative. It was standing room only. You can watch the full video at Atlas Shrugs. Fortunately, I was able to meet Anders Gravers after CPAC.
Mr. LC and I also met some nice guys from Boston, Southie to be exact.
Me and Evan Sayet
Stacy McCain Interviews Les Phillip
Da TechGuy
The View from Bloggers Lounge
It is great to see Ron Paul getting through to younger voters. He is the only one they trust to cut big government.
Reagan’s two terms, Bush’s “no new taxes pledge,” the 1994 Contract with America, Bush’s two terms — they were all cloaked in the rhetoric of small government, but all led to huge increases in the size of the government.
Having been burned so many times, conservatives need someone they can trust, and that’s Ron Paul.
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Ms. Lonely C, it was great to meet and talk to you. You are a true delight. I hope the Paulbots don’t invade you too hard. If they get bad, foil them by asking what they’d do once the Fed was abolished. None of them ever seem to have an answer for that.
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Thanks, Jimmie. You made me feel right at home in the Bloggers Lounge.
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Great report LC! What a great event. Wish I had been there with you.
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Way to go Patricia Sullivan. We are looking forward to you taking down Alan Grayson in November 2010. If you want to help her take Grayson(I know who have to know his name) down please visit her website at http://www.patriciasullivanforcongress.com and donate to her campaign(even if it’s $10 it all helps), he’s going to be throwing alot of money around and we need your help. Thanks
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Conservative Republican Patricia Sullivan is the complete antithesis of Alan Grayson. For the past two years plus we in the 8th District have had a NON-Representative who doesn’t know what his constituents want and whats worse he doesn’t care. We are fortunate to have someone like Patricia Sullivan running against Al, her strength or character is just what we need to correct Als’ lack of representation. Take a look at her web site. She’s not one of the “good old boys”, her campaign is grassroots but generating more and more notice and I know she would appreciate any amount of money you can donate.
http://patriciasullivanforcongress.com/
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[...] VIDEO: Stacy McCain Interviews Doug Hoffman At CPACJimmie Bise links.The Classic Liberal was there.The Lonely Conservative, a gracious lady, also picked us up.The Ubervu thread.George Will: *sigh*newrouter:“Mr. Will: [...]
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